Evening star. [volume], July 26, 1931, Page 2, Image 18

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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2
tTHE EVENING STAR
With Sunday Morning Edition.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
fHJNDAY. . . July 26, 1931
THEODORE W. NOYES... .Editor
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Hoover Economy.
President Hoover in a letter to all
heads of executive departments and in
dependent establishments of the Gov
ernment bluntly says that estimates of
expenditures for the next fiscal year
must be slashed. He implies in the
letter that if his warning Is not fol
lowed out, the Bureau of the Budget,
to which the estimates go before be
ing sent to the President for transmis
sion to Congress, will use the paring
knife without mercy.
The President in the past has warned
Several times the Congress against in
creasing appropriations and enacting
laws authorizing new projects which
then must be estimated for by the
Bureau of the Budget. Members of
Congress have retorted with consider
able rancor that the fault for increased
appropriations and expenditures for the
Federal Government lies not with Con
gress. but with the heads of the execu
tive departments.
The truth of the matter appears to
be that both Congress and the execu
tive departments are responsible for
the ever-increasing cost of national
government to the American taxpayers.
Congress, under the whip and spur of
organized drives for this or that proj
ect, under the impelling demand from
their constitutents for material improve
ments and more jobs, has yielded again
and again and put through costly proj
ects and added new wrinkles to proj
ects already authorized. Therein lies
the fault of Congress in this matter of
mounting appropriations. In the details
of appropriation, the Congress has cut
down appropriations frequently below
the estimates submitted to them. But
had it not been for the "authorizations”
made by the Congress, the estimates
could not have been made so large.
Able and experienced officials of the
Government in the various executive
departments and In the independent
establishments see, beyond doubt, how
the various services may be improved
and added to, to* the benefit of the
people. But improvements and addi
tions to the services mean more money.
They must be paid for. The only way
in which they can be obtained is by the
expenditure of more of the taxpayers’
money.
The immediate reason for President
Hoover’s present demand for economy
of the strictest kind lies in the fact
that while the estimates for the next
fiscal year are mounting higher, the
revenues continue to fall off. At the
close of the last fiscal year, June 30
the Treasury was faced with a deficit
of more than $800,000,000. The Presi
dent has rightly taken the position that
the onward march of expenditures must
be halted. The President in repeated
conferences with heads of the executive
departments in recent weeks has gone
over the situation. Nevertheless, in
his letter now made public, the Presi
dent calls attention to the fact that the
estimates as of July 1 are higher than
those of June 1 and higher, too, than
the estimates of expenditures actually
made during the fiscal year which
ended June 30, 1931. This seems in
credible, in view of the repeated de
mands for economy in the Government
service.
In his letter to the department heads
and heads of the independent estab
lishments the President calls for a
statement of appropriations available
during the current and future fiscal
years. And pending the receipt by the
President of that statement he calls
upon the Government officials to re
frain from actually obligating this
money available for expenditures ex
cept in cases where such postponement
or eliminations will clearly be to the
detriment of the public welfare. IJ
saving can be made in the present fis
cal year, by action of the executive
branch, the President will demanc’
that they be made, It is clear.
This Government has gone ahead
with its increased expenditures unti:
the appropriation of four or five billion
dollars a year has become the regularly
accepted thing. The time has surely
come for a halt on the increases, ar
the President has rightly said both tc
Congress and to his subordinate execu
tive officials.
Events have made the peculiar pipe
habitually used by Charles G. Dawes
appear appropriate to the time. Like
the world for which contemplative re
flection hopes to secure peace, it is not
in reality upside down.
Anschluss.
While last week’s Seven-Power Con
ference on the German economic sit
uation was In progress at London,
arbitral proceedings of far-reaching in
fluence upon the future of Europen
politics were in progress at The Hague.
Before the tribunal of the World Court
Germany and Austria are defending
their right t> establish their projected
tariff union. The issue which the Per
manent Court for International Justice
is called upon to decide is whether the
central powers are at liberty, under the
treaties of Versailles and St. Germain,
to carry out their plans. It is denied
by various signatories of those pacts
that Germany and Austria can legally
proceed to effectuate their enterprise.
Czechoslovakia and France are taking
the lead In establishing the point that
, the Teutonic states would violate the
i *
treaties by concluding a customs al
liance.
It is not so much the economic dis
advantages that would flow from a Ger
man-Austrian tariff union that its op
ponents fear. What they are really
afraid of is that such a union would be
the thin edge of a wedge that would
definitely lead to “Anschluss,’* or com
plete political union between the Berlin
and Vienna governments. That is a
prospect which the neighbors of Ger
many and Austria view with genuine
alarm. An embargo was placed upon it
at Versailles and St. Germain for the
definite and avowed purpose of keeping
the two Germanic countries politically
impotent as long as possible.
With the new atmosphere now pre
vailing in the Old World, due to recent
steps for the rehabilitation of Germany,
It may be doubted whether the oppo
nents either of tariff union or Anschluss
will be able eternally to enforce their
antagonism. There is manifest destiny
in the desires of the German and
Austrian peoples to get together and re
main together. One of these days it
may (lawn upon a Europe now reluctant
to see things In that light that a
merger between Austria’s six million in
habitants and Germany’s sixty-odd
millions would benefit not only those
peoples themselves, but the rest of Eu
rope, already sorely oppressed by the
territorial and political set-up which
the all-wise statesmen of 1919 erected,
but which current events are showing
to be far from a perfect structure.
Financial Statistics of Cities.
The Census Bureau’s report for the
year 1929 on the financial statistics
of cities, which has just been made
available, serves again to accentuate
some of the peculiar facts in relation
to Washington's unique position among
the cities of the United States.
Ranking fourteenth among the cities
of the Nation in population, the assessed
valuation of its general property is ex
ceeded by only eight of the cities, and
all of these cities are in the group
of over 500,000 In population, in which
Washington does not belong. Again, the
figures on assessed valuation show
Washington property valued for tax
ation purposes, above comparable prop
erty in such great industrial cities
as St. Louis, Pittsburgh, San Francisco,
Milwaukee and approximating the valua
tion of such property in Los Angeles,
Baltimore and Boston. The valuation of
its taxable property exceeds by more than
six hundred millions the comparable
valuation of property of the next high
est city in its own population group.
Yet, the holdings of Washington's ma
jor industry, the Federal Government,
do not figure, as they are tax exempt,
in the comparison of Washington's as
sessed valuation with such valuations
of other large cities.
Washington’s per capita general Ux
levy is shown by the census report to
be $49.35, which compares with the
average for the United States of $49.84.
Its per capita general tax levy is greater
than that of Baltimore ($38.27) and
St. Louis ($40.05) and approaches that
of Philadelphia ($51.56) and San Fran
cisco ($51.44), these cities being over
500,000 in population. In its own group
of cities its per capita general tax levy
is shown to be below the average
($51.65). But Washington, among all
the cities, is the only one that lacks
indebtedness, and is the only one that
does not have to make tax levies for
annual interest payments that range,
in its own group, from Louisville's sl,-
281,000 to Cincinnati's $5,776,000, and
which constitute, for this group, a total
Os $33,984,000.
The figures tfn indebtedness prove
once again the Bureau of Efficiency’s
findings, in its most recent comparison
of tax levies, that “most of the other
cities are living beyond their income
and running Into debt in order to un
dertake extensive programs of public
improvements.” The sum total of the
Nation’s municipal Indebtedness is stag
gering—s6,l3o,2B9,ooo, an increase in
one year of $304,017,000.
Washington’s claim has always been
that in comparing tax burdens, that
part of the tax burdens of other cities
levied to retire and to meet the interest
on bonded indebtedness should be de
ducted. Otherwise, we should be com
paring the tax burden of tax-free
Washington, living within its means
from year to year, with the tax burdens
of other cities that have borrowed huge
sums to launch public improvement
programs. As Washington has no in
debtedness, it is unfair to label its tax
burden inadequate in order to lift it to
a figure representing the tax burden of
debt-encumbered cities.
So it is with that portion of total tax
levy representing payments in State and
county taxes. These, in comparisons
with Washington, should be eliminated,
as Washington does not pay county or
State taxes and receives in return none
of the benefits of participation in State
and county governments.
The Census Bureau's tables will be
followed by others analyzing the various
elements considered in arriving at the
totals just announced. These, presum
ably, will be utilized in connection with
the comparison of tax burdens which
the House Fiscal Committee will un
doubtedly seek from Its expert. Mr.
George Lord. One disadvantage, of
course, is that the Census Bureau is
more than a year behind. Fairly ap
praised, Washington has no fear of the
results that will be shown.
Taxicabs are making life inexpensive
at present. In the past, railroads would
have rate wars during which transpor
tation was almost given away. It in
variably happened that when the war
was over, rates went up to a figure
high enough to secure a current profit
and cover past losses. A rate war is a
merry war for the cash patron, but its
pleasures are among those described as
"fleeting. *
The Great Discovery.
It is not for love,
That mother cries
When comes the baby’s sneeM.
She has no love
Nor bond that ties
But only manganese.
An announcement at the closing sea*
tlon of the annual clinic of the Ameri
can College of Physicians that "mother
love" In rats can be completely de
stroyed by withholding manganese from
their diet, and that it can be restored
by replacing the same substance, will
naturally create intense interest in the
world of scientific chemistry and medi
cine. But one must not overlook Its
effect upon the mothers, provided, of
course, that all mothers, more or leas,
are the same under the skin. For what
THE SUNDAY BTAK, WASHINGTON, P. C„ JULY 26, 1931—PAST TWO.
■ a huge Joke it an turns out to be—on
the mothers! For hundreds of years, for
' thousands of years, mother love has
■ been held up as the moat sublime of
, human emotions. And now to that
: it is not love at all, but only manga
> nesel
1 Experiments at Johns Hopkins showed
. that mother rats, exceptionally affec*
, tlonate creatures as concern their young,
, were affected by a month's abstinence'
from manganese In diet, so that they
, turned away from their offspring. Their
affections were restored with the man
ganese. When manganese was withheld
from the diet of the young, their moth
ers somehow noticed it end refused them
maternal attentions. What it all means
must be left to the doctors and the
chemists. Even they are not yet sure.
But the possibilities, of course, for
practical use of the discovery are enor
mous. A better and a happier world
should result. When the darling chil
dren have refused to get out of bad
until the last minute on school morn
ings, when they have broken their shoe
strings, failed to tuck in their shirt
tails and come to breakfast with un
brushed hair and unwashed counte
nances, sent back to their rooms half
a dozen times for various repairs and
then refused to partake of cold eggs;
when they have lost their cape, mis
placed their home work, forgotten
books and cannot find the note that
teacher said must be signed—when they
have done these things and at last have
dashed madly off to school, poor mother
will not have to fight the temptation
to walk to the river and end It all. A
visit to the medicine chest, a chocolate
coated pill of manganese, and when the
darlings return for luncheon mother
will be waiting, with open arms and a
heart that is overflowing—with man
ganese.
Desire for solitude la expressed by
"Ms Kennedy,” whom Destiny has
thrown permanently before the public
gaze. Fame Is frequently emphasised
by the expression of some such long
ing, usually under circumstances which
make Its gratification manifestly Im
possible. As a matter of fact, solitude
is one of the experiences In life that
the lady would least enjoy.
Paris hospitality is lavish with cham
pagne and sandwiches. While the lmme -
dlate food supply has no bearing on the
logic involved. It may serve a desirable
purpose. It Is axiomatic that men are
most inclined to be agreeable when
well fed.
July days at his boyhood home have
been thoroughly enjoyed by Calvin Cool
idge. One form of farm relief that may
be relied on Is the use of the good old
country place for the pyrpoees of a
Summer vacation.
New York authorities are throwing
so many restrictions around night
clubs that it may yet be found necessary
to run them during ordinary busi
ness hours and call them day clubs.
Too many distinctions In parking
privileges may make It necessary lor a
police officer to carry a copy of the
"Social Register” along with his mem
oranda of the traffic regulations.
Reno, Nev„ continues to receive ex
traordinary attention in print, some
of which, however, Is likely to be classi
fied by advertising experts as "un
favorable publicity.”
Suggestions of sentiment inevitably
arise in consideration of Europeans.
Wise diplomats agree, however, that It
is time to avoid sentiment and talk
business.
SHOOTING STAES.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.
Response.
Oh, the world will be smiling Instead of
rude
If, in passing on your way.
You hold yourself to a gentle mood
And toes It a big bouquet.
The words may seem prosy,
But the sentiment goes;
The world will seem rosy
If you hand it a rose.
Oh, the world will seem cruel and all
unjust
If the rose’s grace you hid#
And wield the briar with reckless thrust
As you bid men stand aside.
It’s a circumstance plain,
Just as sure as you’re born!
It will prick you again
If you hand It a thorn.
Artless Babble.
“Why do you want to talk to these
poor people?” said the asylum attend
ant. “Are you an alienist?”
“No. I am a composer of ragtime
songs and I want to get some sugges
tions for new titles.”
The Instinctive Bargainer.
“What would you take for a Summer
cold?” said the sufferer.
“I dunno,” replied the man who never
forgets business. "What’d you be willing
to give?”
Doggie’s Obligation.
You pay his license to renew;
For life you feed him free.
A doggie is man’s friend so true —
At least he ought to be.
Sharing a Common Fate.
“Wasn't George Washington the
father of his country?”
“Yes. But there is a tendency on the
part of the rising generation to be rather
disrespectful to parents.”
Running Time.
“It only takes me twenty minutes to
get to my office," said Mr. Chugglns.
“But you didn’t arrive until an hour
after you telephoned that you were
leaving home.”
‘!Yes. It took the other forty min
utes to get the car started.”
Even There.
Ah. humble enough is the dairy lunch,
But Fancy may hover there,
As noontide hastily bids you munch
Through the limited bill of fare.
For the milk is as blue as her bright
blue eye;
Like her lips are the berries red
And the glint of the sun on the custard
pie.
Is the glint of her golden head.
"De man dat gits mad easy,” said
Uncle Eben, “is liable to was’e so much
energy on his indignation dat he ain't
got enough lef’ to make out a m kin* or
an ahgumeafc” .
DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE
BY THE RIGHT HEY. JAMES E. FREEMAN. D. D„ LI. D,
Bishop of Washington.
“This Is Primrose day” was the an
swer given us when we Inquired why
the primrose was displayed everywhere
In England on a certain day In April.
The primrose was the flower that Dis
raeli loved, and out of affection for her
great prime minister England annually
displays It. It Is a day of remem
brance.
All of us cherish in our lives certain
days' that mark the anniversaries of
those events that have had a controlling
Influence upon our careers. Thtee days
may be associated with certain person
alities, personalities that have mightily
affected not only our thinking, but our
habits as well. Eevery now and again,
and more likely In the Summer, we
betake ourselves to scenes that were fa
miliar to us in early life. They may
be wholly different from those with
which we are now familiar—much more
homely, much more simple, and yet
with the poet we sing: "How dear to
my heart are the scenes of my child
hood.” We are in a sad way when we
lose that fine sentiment that prompts
us to return to those ways and days
wherein life was plastic and the affec
tions strong and unspoiled. Most of us
keep in some secret place faded letters,
bits of hair, a daguerreotype the lines
of which are quite invisible, a book with
an inscription, some token that brings
back to memory events and personali
ties that belong with the things of early
life. He is utterly impoverished who
has nothing worth remembering.
One of the finest aspects of what we
have in mind Is the readiness with
which ye forget the unfortunate and
unhappy experiences, the days that
were shadowed by clouds. We have fre
quently remarked, memory is far more
active In recalling happy events than
those that are sad and depressing. At
least we think that this is true of
those who are of normal mind.
When we come to survey what we
have really achieved, the measure of
success we have attained, we are bound
to trace it to certain events and cir
cumstances, environments and person
alities that left a lasting Impression
upon us. Even the men of genius bear
ReicK Wholly Decapitalized;
Britain Loses Gold Heavily
BY WILLIAM HARD. I
Special Dispatch to The Star.
All the hen* In the international
political barnyard are clucking loudly :
in the neighborhood of the German
neet at this week end, but the news
paper correspondents are having a bad
time trying to find the eggs.
After a month of heroic effort the
Germans have fewer nest eggs, in the
way of working capital, than they had
last Spring. The supreme test of their
position is the going market value of
their 1930 Young plan reparation bonds.
That is the daily actual clinching big
news of the development of German
economic salvation.
Bonds Under 60.
The Young plan bonds were sold in
this countity last year at 90. In the
early part of this year they were still
at 84. When the Hoover debt move
was begun they were still above 70.
They are today below 60.
That is the true conclusive opinion
of Wall Street regarding Germany's |
present financial health.
Moreover, a new patient has been
added to the hospital. That is Great
Britain.
There is more talk today in quiet
but really informed quarters about a
new loan to Great Britain than about
a new loan to Germany.
The daring Hoover debt move gave
Germany during this current fiscal year
some $400,000,000 of public capital
which otherwise it would not have had.
Simultaneously much more than that
amount of private capital fled from
Germany.
Treasuries Try Cure.
Governmental treasuries have been
trying to cure the world, but have not
so far succeeded in making private capi
tal incur sacrifices for the cure.
Now private capital is taking gold
out of Great Britain.
The gold supply of the Bank of Eng
land has fallen below the •'minimum - ’
established as the "dead-line of dan
ger” by Lord Cunliffe. This last week
the Bank of England lost $75,000,000 of
gold. It lost it largely to France, but
also in considerable part to other
European countries. Flocks of airplanes
have carried gold from London to Paris.
Wall Street now contemplates the
possibility of a reassuring loan to Lon
don. It imagines that a possible visit
of J. P. Morgan to London at this week
end may be attended by a tentative dis
cussion of such a loan.
The stability of Great Britain is un
questioned. Germany is thought po
litically internally precarious and there
fore financially externally dangerous.
Great Britain is regarded as a self
righting boat which politically inter
nally will succumb to no weather what
soever, and which financially externally
will repay every penny placed upon It.
Britain Close to Situation.
Some bankers even take the view that
the best way to finance Germany is to
finance Great Britain and to let the
British, who are much closer to the
matter and who know much more about
it, handle it.
There is almost universal recognition
now of the fact that the financing of
Germany is a much more vital under
taking than was supposed at the time
when President Hoover first made his
debt move. At that time the idea was
simply to save Germany for world pros
perity. Now the idea is that the salva
tion of Germany is necessary for the
salvation of capitalism Itself in Central
Europe.
Figures produced by the Central Bank
of Germany have convinced the states
men at London and Paris and Washing
ton that Germany is a virtually decap
italized country.
Those figures show that of all income
acquired by Germans in Germany only
4 per cent comes from returns on in
vestments. In this country the returns
on investments are several times that
percentage of the national income.
Capital Aatoundingly Little.
In other words, we have much capital
to put into Investments and the Ger
mans have astoundlngly little. Hence
their enormous need of new foreign
money.
Hence also the anti-capitalistic char
acter of the overwhelming mass of their
industrial population. We are rich in
“small investors.” Germany has vir
tually none. Our “small investors” pro
duce among us a multitudiness con
servatism. Germany’s almost total lack
of “small investors” produces in the
German industrial regions a multi
tudinous radicalism.
In the German Legislature more than
one-third of the members are Socialists
or Communists. At the other end of
the legislative chamber from them are
the so-called “Extreme Conservatives,”
the so-called “Fascists." These “Fas
cists,” however, also call themselves
“National Socialists.” They also even
call themselves the “National Socialist
Workers’ party.” In order to attract
workingmen they demand the “sociali
zation,” the “nationalization,” the gov
ernmental ownership and operation, of
all "high finance.”
If you add together the Communists
and the Socialists and the "National
Socialists,” you have much more than
a majority of the national legislators
of Germany. They cannot be re-elected
without continuous appeals to anti
capitalistic sentiment.
Problem Is Capitalisation.
The bitter problem of the capitalistic
world Is to put new capital into an
JSKTiSF. SS3UV9&S
. testimony to the fact that somewhere
. along the way some one more discern
ing than themselves awoke In them
1 qualities and aptitudes of which they
. themselves were quite unconscious. One
of the finest things we ever do in life is
' this sort of discovery and revelation to
’ another of some latent quality or gift.
We sometimes think, espscially in our
later life, that we are moved to what
t we do very largely by current events
1 and passing circumstances. We do not
: believe that this is generally true. We
i may adapt our habits of dress to the
fashion of the hour, but these con
’ stant external changes do not neces
sarily affect either our thinking or our
habits. Talking recently with one of
( the financial leaders of our generation,
I noted that he repeatedly referred to
the days of his boyhood and the humble
circumstances that attended his youth.
He was really boastful of the homely
soil from whence he had sprung. We
■ thought him the greater because of the
handicaps that had attended his early
: way.
Yes, days of remembrance have their
distinct value, and without them we
lose much of impulse and inspiration to
, carry on. In our religious experience
we constantly refer to the events that
, marked the first expression of our reli
gious faith. We may have wandered
: far away from our early convictions, but
it is remarkable with what tenacity we
hold to them in days when life is
strained to the utmost and our courage
at low ebb. Repeatedly I have seen
strong men who had, in a sense, dis
avowed their religious faith yield again
to the long-abandoned habits of prayer
when a crisis was at hand. We some
times think we outgrow early impres
sions and that the memories of other
days are altogether lost to us. Experi
ence and observation run counter to
this view, and it is our deliberate convic
tion that the men and women who are
the strongest, who wield the largest In
fluence in the sphere of their occupa
tion, are those who turn again, fre
quently and lovingly, to events and in
cidents and personalities associated with
life’s most plastic period—the period of
youth.
I Jstlc member of ordinary international
society.
That is why some bankers think that
the Labor government of Great Britain
might know better how to turn the
trick than the altogether conservative
Government of the United States.
The best observer who recently has
returned here from Germany is Dorothy
Parker, wife of the novelist Sinclair
Lewis. Her writings have been a per
fect prediction of recent Oerman out
comes. She has been visiting Wash
ingtonr and she seems to think it pos
sible that there may be created in Ger
many a "capitalistic dictatorship.”
Such a dictatorship would suppress
the anti-capitalistic majority sentiment
of Oermany by force and would there
upon be able to promise safety to Im
ported foreign capital.
But such a dictatorship would neces
sarily have to include the conservative
wing of the "National Socialists.” who
are violently anti-French and who ve
hemently demand big armaments and
the abolishment of reparations.
If then Germany gets a radical gov
ernment. it moves against capitalism,
and if it gets a reactionary govern
ment, it moves toward w r ar.
At present it has a middle govern
ment, which cannot move at all without
foreign help.
Only Safe Government.
It is acknowledged to deserve that
help, as being the only sort of German
government that can keep Germany
from becoming either excessively So
cialist and rvolutionary on the one hand
or excessively Nationalist and belliger
ent on the other.
The situation comes thereupon to
its final phase.
Where can private investors be found
so hardy and so adventurous as to im
peril their personal money on a long
term chance of saving an antl-capital
istlc Germany to be an enduring pillar
of the capitalistic system? London and
Paris and Washington do not at pres
ent see them anywhere.
The only remaining alternative is
that the capitalistic governments them
selves should guarantee the proposed
indispensable long-term loans to Ger
many.
That is the ultimate move on the
board on which the Hoover debt move
was the mere opener. Conviction ac
cumulates that the rescue of Germany
is wholly beyond private efTorts. It
requires the efforts of whole peoples
as represented in governments that can
spread and carry the risks.
(Copyright. 1931.)
Survey Will Reveal
U. S. Buyers’ Habits
BY HARDEN COLFAX.
For the first time definite first-hand
information on regional difference* In
the buying habits of the American pub
lic is to be obtained by a Government
authority, so that merchants will be
able to gauge the market possibilities of
the territory served by their city or
town.
The Department of Commerce an
nounces that it has decided upon an
extensive program of surveys of mer
chandising practices and buying habits
for different sections of the country
and for specific industries. A few
rather isolated examples of differences
in buying habits are known. The sub
ject has been studied in a general way.
Up to the present, however, no private
agency nor the Government itself has
ever obtained exact data on buying
habits, which might be valuable to busi
ness men in determining what kind of
merchandise is likely to find favor or is
losing popularity in their localities.
Surveys of particular industries in
particular regions, now is being under
taken by the domestic regional division
of the department. The results will be
included with" other material already
compiled and the findings of the cen
sus of distribution in a revision of the
department's “market data hand book.
The department already has issued a
“commercial survey of New England,
considering the industrial and commer
cial structure of that, region, a study of
its retail trade and its consumer habits
and an analysis of its foreign trade. It
also has brought out commercial sur
veys of the Southeast, the Pacific
Southwest and of the Gulf Southwest.
In the last named it presented facts
concerning dry goods and the petroleum
industry. A survey of the cotton indus
try of that section also is in prepara
tion and will be published in the near
future. Then there will be a commer
cial survey of the Pacific Northwest
(now in press) and three studies or fur
niture distribution in the Midwest, the
Midcontinental area and the Gulf
Southwest. . . .
An impressive illustration of wnat
such a survey may show is furnished
by the study of petroleum in the Gulf
Southwest. In addition to the figures
of quantity and value production the
study shows how many of the largest
cities of this region have been built
upon oil. The industry as shown in
the report has all sorts of effects on
banking, the value of property, the ex
pansion of highways, and the enlarge
ment of educational systems.
Subsequent studies along other com
modity lines, it is now announced, such
as groceries, dry goods and hardware,
will disclose other facts as to buying
habits and merchandising practices. In
the furniture study, the preliminary
field work Is nqjv heipg done In several
areas, set cooperation with the ideal
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL V. KENNEDY.
Secretary Arthur M. Hyde of the De
partment of Agriculture is showing
timely versatility this Summer in the
publicity, is being sent out from his
department to help all the people of the
country to live more comfortably.
He advises mothers and others re
sponsible for care of the baby to give
it sunbaths, but to avoid excessive tan
ning.
He advises how to discourage hungry
mosquitoes
He admits what Is quite obvious that
dogs, cats, hogs and poultry harbor
fleas.
He discloses that It is easy to handle
the bee sting if you know how.
And, after explaining through one of
his blight young women investigators
that it is possible to read by the green
light of the mushroom or Jack-o
lanterns, he points out that the afore
said mushroom is also the poor man’s
weather glass.
The mushroom, he says, is so sensi
tive to changes in the moisture of the
air that it serves as a barometer. It
grows in the woods, sandy places and
on partly cleared land. As it develops
the two outer coats of the puff ball con
taining the spores split into segments,
but remain united at the top of the ball.
The two coatings vary in composition
and do not absorb moisture in the same
degree. The result is that in wet
weather or when there is considerable
moisture in the air the segments stand
out from the plant. In dry weather
the inner layer contracts more than
the outer and causes the segments to
curve in sharply. Because of their habit
of splitting into starlike segments this
group of fungi is known as the earth
stars. These puff-ball mushrooms are
not poisonous.
** * *
Secretary Hyde directs us to J. I.
Hambleton, expert on bee culture, for
some Summer psychology on bee stings
which, he says, are "painful but inter
esting.” When a bee prods its victim
it tears itself from its sting, a suicidal
act. The sting left in the wound has
Just started on its way, for the sting
and the poison sack attached are
equipped with muscles, which work it
in deeper and deeper.
The sting is composed of two lancets,
each provided with a series of sharp
barbs pointing backward similar to a
harpoon. The reflex action of the muscles
draws one lancet into the flesh where
it is anchored by these barbs, and then
the other lancet and so on alternately.
At the same time the muscles are
squeezing the poison sack so that the
poison is constantly being pumped into
the wound.
Mr. Hambleton explains that most
persons attempt to pull out the sting
and that in so doing the pressure of
their Angers squeezes the poison sack
and empties it into the flesh. The
sting should be scratched out, he ad
vises and demonstrates for interested
observers by letting his finger get stung
and then quickly scratching it out—not
with a knife, but much more quickly
than he could open a knife, by scratch
ing vigorously with his fingernail.
So there you have —another use for
the fingernail.
** * *
Secretary Hyde frankly admits, what
most of us know from painful experi
ence, that "it is no easy task to dis
courage hungry mosquitoes from bitting
human beings." The different breeds
of mosquitoes react differently to vari
ous repellents, and individuals experi
ence different results with the same
repellents and the same breed of mos
quitoes.
Oil of citronella Is one of the most
widely used mosquito repellents, the
Government experts say, and that al
most any oily preparation on the skin
will repel mosquitoes more or less.
We now have it officially from those
| who have made an intensive and pre
sumably exhaustive study of the pesky
mosquitoes that there is no cure for
mosquito bites. Uncle Sam officially ad
vises us all to take precautions against
getting stung rather than to try to
soothe the bite —in other words, to close
the screen door before the mosquito
steals in. If you are bitten one of the
best methods of relief —the Govern
ment scientists say—ls to rub the pain
ful and itchy puncture gdhtly with a
moist piece of toilet soap.
Spraying with a kerosene pyrethrum
mixture is also advocated as an insecti
cide and repellant.
** * *
Over in the Bureau of Home Eco
nomics of the Department of Agricul
ture they have gotten far away from
such agricultural problems as the best
kind of seed to plant, from wheat sur
plus and the blight of the gypsy moth,
and are delving deeply into 'ways to
help the women on the farms and in
city homes as well how to best culti
vate the Nation’s best crop—its children.
After an interesting if rather prosaic
talk about how normal growth of bones
depends not only on the mineral con
tent of the food the child eats, but
also on the presence of vitamin D, and
that when bones do not grow normally
the condition is known as rickets, they
shed a new light on the sun bath fad.
They emphasize that only a part of the
sunlight is effective—the ultra violet
rays—and that less of these are to be
found in the Winter sunlight. All sun
ning must be done very gradually, they
say, especially with a very young child.
The sunning should be done before 11
a.m. or after 3 p.m. so as to avoid the
very hot part of the day.
Excessive tanning should be avoided,
Uncle Sam’s specialists insist, because it
prevents the ultra violet rays from
penetrating the skin and, therefore,
makes the sun bath less effective.
Chronic Hopers.
Prom the Worcester Daily Telegram.
The Boston Red Sox have adopted a
100-year plan for winning the pennant
in the American League.
I S 1
The Price of Victory.
Prom the Sioux Pal's Arras Leader.
In the case of war. It might be said
that the winner pays and pays and
pays.
Harmonious.
Prom the Duluth Herald.
We have never known a case where
static spoiled a jazz program. On the
contrary, it has often had a beneficial
effect.
trades. Attention is being paid to
methods of sales promotion, advertising
policies and types of credit extension in
use in the leading cities and towns.
The survey will bring out facts about
cash sales, mall order sales. Installment
buying, and changes in style tastes.
It also will show how much density
of population has to do with buying
habits. These habits, as a matter of
fact, correspond very closely with stand
ards of living. For example, there
would be a difference in the types of
clothing purchased In large commercial
cities, mining communities and logging
regions. Similarly, the climate and
habits of different regions will determine
to a certain extent the kinds of food,
and even the kind of furniture, pur
chased.
Differences in buying habits may even
be noted within various parts of the
same city. Hardware sales figures ob
tained by the department bear out the
point. High-grade tools. It Is shown,
sell better in an Industrial portion of a
city, as la to be expected, while a
poorer grade of home fittings and ac
cessories is purchased. But In the
better residential districts any sort of
tools Is satisfactory, while a better grade
of fittings and accessories Is required.
It Is proposed by the department to
carry on these studies throughout the
nine different Industrial and commercial
regions Into which the country, as a
whole, has been divided and In connec
tion with a number of specific Indus
tries.—Just how many not yet having
been decided. The result Is expected
to be the great elimination of enormous
waste in the conduct of retail business
tn the United States.
American Standards of Living
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.
——— ' ' ■— «-
The average New Yorker or Call
' fomlan who talks about the cost of
i living means something entirely differ*
, ent from the average citizen of South
Carolina, Alabama or Mississippi. Cost
• of living usually is Interpreted to mean
' the amount of money which people pay
to buy the articles which they consider
they require for their support. What
this sum Is In different parts of the
country Is a changing stcry.
Much Is heard In political, economic
and sociological discussions about the
American standard of living In the
United States as compared with the
European or Asiatic standard of living.
, « la generally boasted to be a very
much higher standard. On an average
1 It is much higher. But If some of the
States, especially if some of the regions
of the United States were to be re
garded as separate countries, as much
1 difference would be found In their
standards of living In terms of money
spent as between the American stand
ard and the European standard. As
■ matters now are figured, the average for
the entire country Is taken as repre
senting the “American standard of
living.” This, probably, is fair enough.
Nevertheless, every man, woman and
child In California spends $575.73 a
year In making purchases at retail, and
every New Yorker spends $575.13. This
must be contrasted, to obtain a clear
Idea of the differences In the many
American standards of living, with the
$171.98 which every person in South
Carolina spends in retail stores In a
year, with the $198.19 spent by each
Alabaman and the $205.92 spent by
each dweller in Mississippi.
The Californian, the greatest spender,
it will be noted, spends almost three
times as much as the South Carolinian,
the poorest. Yet both are States of the
American Union.
When the retail expenditures in all
States are added together it is found
that the total amount of money spent
over the counter Is $50,033,850,792.
This gives an average per capita ex
penditure of $407.53. This Is well above
the European standard of retail expen
diture but this average also Is far above
the standard in the three Southern
States mentioned—loo per cent above.
In fact
The Bureau of the Census has made
a thorough survey of both retail and
wholesale distribution in the United
States, and has turned up these as
tonishing figures on the varying
standards of living In the different
parts of the country.
Public Weil Served.
It Is shown that the country is well
served with retail stores. There are
1,549,168 qf them and that means that,
averaged for the entire country, there
are 12.6 retail stores for every 1,000 In
habitants. Averages may be very de
ceptive although It is difficult to dis
pense with them In discussing a matter
In broad national terms. There are
many cities in the land where every
door for many blocks opens into a re
tail establishment of some kind. There
are other places where one must ride
100 miles to find any kind of a store.
The big cities, naturally, are the best
served in this matter. They have more
retail stores, but also It must be remem
bered that the retailing Is more strictly
divided by commodities. There are re
tail stores dealing In nothing but books
There are others which specialize In
meat, others which sell only bread, hats,
rubber goods, flowers, notions, and so
on. To balance them are the great de
partment stores In cities and the other
type of department store, the rural
general emporium, which purveys every
thing to the countryside from cream
separators to common pins, from lum
ber wagons and threshers and binders
to shoestrings and store teeth.
New York has 15.1 stores for every
1,000 population, but does not stand at
the head of the list. Florida leads in
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star
When Charles J. Guiteau stepped be
hind President Garfield at the Sixth
street station. In this city, on the 2d of
July, 1881, he fired two shots, one of
n. r. j which entered the \
uUlteau $ Second President's back
Bullet 1$ Found. inflicted the
wound which
eventually caused his death. The other
shot missed Its mark and for a time
there was a mystery regarding its
course. In The Star of July 19, 1881,
the question regarding this second ball
was answered:
“The whereabouts of the missing
bullet, the first fired by the assassin
Guiteau at the President, remained a
mystery until yesterday, when Krlstoph
Plockechls, a Polish glazier, residing at
913 Third street northeast, appeared
at the district attorney’s office and pro
duced it. It will be remembered that
after it was definitely ascertained that
this ball had gone in a southeasterly
direction, passing through one of the
doorways of the ladles’ room at the
depot, a thorough but unavailing search
was made for it and it was thought
that It might have been imbedded In
a piece of baggage in the baggage room
at the southeast corner of the building.
It now appears that at the time of
the shooting Plockechls, the glazier,
was in the main room of the depot
with his kit—a box containing some
panes of window glass, knives and
putty—waiting an opportunity to get
a $lO bill changed. He had loosened
one strap of his kit and was In the act
of loosening the other when he heard
the reports of the pistol and three
panes of his glass were shattered in
the box. He immediately ran away
from the building. Last Wednesday,
while cleaning his box, he found the
bullet imbedded in a lump of putty,
and, acting under the advice of friends, <
he yesterday took it to the district
attorney and gave It up. He thinks
that this was the first ball, but says
the shots were so quickly fired that he
was not certain. Plockechls speaks but
little English and made his statement
through an interpreter, Gotleib Prew.
The bullet is a mate to those taken
from Gulteau's pistol. The point Is
blunted and one side Is flattened. Col.
Corkhill says there 'is no reason to
doubt the story told by the glazier.”
*
* *
President Garfield was making an
apparent recovery from his wound and
so satisfactory were the bulletins of
the physicians that his complete con
_ ~ valescence was general-
President I ]y expected. Gov. Charles
G. Foster of Ohio pro-
Condition. posed the appointment
of a day of national thanksgiving for
the President’s preservation. The Star
of July 20, 1881, thus commented upon
his condition:
“The slight relapse which the Presi
dent suffered Monday evening was only
transient and did not even check the
favorable symptoms which have so
regularly continued of late. The wound
is doing well, and that is the main
thing, as it governs the case. It seems
to be decided that no experiments for
determining the locality of the bullet
will be permitted while the President
is steadily Improving. That might do
harm without any chance for com
pensating benefits. The surgeons are
convinced that their theory of the track
of the bell and Its present lodgement
Is correct. Anything that disturbs the
President usually causes an excitement
which is followed by an increase of
fever. This has been shown on several
occasions. The noise that was neces
sary to the Introduction of the cold-air
pipes annoyed him and a rise of tem-
Krature followed. The dressing of his
,ir and beard by a barber on Monday
had a like effect, and to subject him
KB* .woga ayt tragP mßh JBRfiE
a
this sort of service to the public with
15.3 stores per 1,000. This Is due to
the fact that there are so many resort
areas In Florida where kfnall retail es
tablishments, some selling nothing more
than ephemeral souvenirs, have sprung
up. Not all operate all the year round
yet are counted. California has 15.1
stores per 1,000 people.
Two communities which cannot be
classified by ordinary explanations are
Delaware and Oregon. Neither is an
outstanding resort State, and neither
has especially large cities. Yet Oregon
has 15.3 stores per 1,000 and Delaware
15.2.
From these well served communities
we may turn to those of the opposite
class. Alabama stands at the bottom
of the list, with only 8.1 stores per
1,000. Mississippi has only 8.6 retail
stores and South Carolina only 8.7.
Some Sections Demand More.
Storekeeping may be a local habit
and that may account for differences
found. For example, there is no surface
explanation of the fact that South Da
kota, a relatively sparsely settled com
munity, should have 13 stores per 1,000
inhabitants, while Tennessee has but 9.
South Dakota Is new country and Ten
nessee one of the older States. Each
customer spends far more In the South
Dakota stores than in the Tennessee
ones, however, per capita expenditures
in the Northern State amounting to
$378.36, while In Tennessee the per
capita retail expenditure is but $248.38
—a very big difference. The much
greater population of Tennessee makes
that State’s total contribution to retail
trade $649,857,000 while South Dakota
adds but $262,148,000. Obviously, the
South Dakotans have a much higher
standard of living from the point of
view of things bought at the store.
Some vastly interesting spending
characteristics may be discerned in
comparing the big four of the States
from the point of view’ of total retail
buying. New York leads not only by
high standing in per capita expendi
ture, but in total retail purchases, with
a total of $7,239,632,000 for the State.
Pennsylvania comes second in total re
tail trade with a figure of $4,039,555,000,
but by no means second to New York
in per capita purchases. Nearly a score
of States show higher per capita ex
penditures than Pennsylvania. Her per
capita figure is only $419.42. This Penn
sylvania per capita figure doubtless is
low because of the large Quaker popu
lation and the Pennsylvania Dutch.
Although living well, the people are ex
tremely thrifty, keeping up the tradition
of their most celebrated fellow citizen,
the late Benjamin Franklin.
Third in total retail expenditure
comes Illinois, with a toal of $3,687,-
370,000 and a per capita figure of
$483.2*3. This ranks her second to New
York among the four largest States,
but not second for the country by any
means. Fourth comes Ohio, with a
total retail trade of $3,056,748,000 and
a per capita figure of $459.89.
It may be noted that throughout
this discussion has referred to States
and their rank. Crowning all other
figures are those for the National Capi
tal, classified separately from any
State, as the District of Columbia. A
per capita expenditure of $681.65 at
retail stores is shown. This is more
than SIOO greater than the highest on
the list of States, California, and more
than SSOO more than the lowest. South
Carolina. Even with this high per
capita figure, the number of stores per
1,000 is below the average, there being
only 12.1, a total of 5.917 doing an an
nual business of $331,873,000.
Washington may disappoint some
people who come seeking panaceas for
every ill of mankind, but it is the re
tail tradesman's paradise. European
governments may totter, but Uncle
Sam still meets the pay roll which sus
tains this huge volume of retail trade
in the National Capital.
English Press Hits
Conference Results
BY A. G. GARDINER.
A chorus of disappointment touched
with anger issued from all sections of
the press this week at the meager re
, suits of the conference of powers in
! London.
“We are very well pleased.” said
Premier Ramsay MacDonald at the close
! of the conference.
“Why are they well pleased?” asked
the Manchester Guardian. "What less
could they have done than they have
done?” The London Times strikes the
same note, voicing impatient dissatis
faction with a mountain which brought
forth such a pathetically small mouse.
It insists that if all the conference
aimed at was the persuasion of bankers
to leave in Germany such money as
was already there, there was no neces
sity to call the conference. It also
criticizes the government for its failure
to give a bold lead to the deliberations.
“Chancellor Bruening of Germany
has come to London asking bread,” says
the New Statesman. “He goes back to
Berlin with a few biscuit crumbs."
Resentment against France as the
chief author of the pitiful results of the
conference is widespread and the opin
ion is expressed that if the only object
was an appeal to bankers the presence
of France was unnecessary, inasmuch
as practically all the short-term money
in Germany is American and English.
It is only fair to say that the personal
impression created by Premier Laval at
the conference was excellent and his re
lations with Bruening were most cor
dial. No one doubts that there is a
more reasonable and generous France
than appears in the public attitude of
the country and in the Parisian press.
Evidence of this is given in the popular
reception for the German ministers on
their arrival in Paris last week end.
Unfortunately the policy of France is
dictated by the Quai d'Orsay, which
learns nothing and forgets nothing, ex
cept, as one critic remarks, the art of
sucking gold into Paris.
It is significant that this moment was
chosen for renewed withdrawals of gold
from London, resulting in an increased
bank rate. Even the London Morning
Post, which has been the most faithful
apologist for France in the London
press, no longer pretends that this is
other than a deliberate act of policy.
“Unfortunately,” says the Post, “the
handling of the problem of the German
crisis is rendered more difficult by the
fact that France has elected this par
ticular time to make a fresh inroad into
the world’s gold supplies. With her
bams of precious metal pressed down
to overflowing, she, within the apace of
less than a fortnight, has taken con
siderably over $100,000,000 in gold from
this country, a withdrawal which oven
in war times can scarcely have been
exceeded in so short a period.”
In two years the gold holding of
France has increased $1,000,000,000,
and the Post points out that while
Great Britain uses gold for the good of
Europe as a whole, France manipulates
it for her own purposes in ways which
keep the situation uneasy and disturbed.
This is a fact which “constitutes a poor
return for the consideration which has
been shown her by this country in the
matter of lightening war debt.”
Feeling aroused here by the mental
processes of the French toward Ger
many is aggravated by the whoops of
triumph of the Moscow press at the
threatened fall of the moderate Berlin
government and prophecies of the rapid
approach of a Communist revolution.
Pravda and Izvestla published frantic
exaggerations of the disorders in Ger
many. While these exaggerations have
been discounted, there is enough truth
in them to warn France that the ulti
mate consequence of her policy may be
that she will have Sovietism established
as a neighbor on the Rhine.
(Copyright. 1931.)
the doctors seem to have agreed that It
will be time enough to hunt for the
bullet When the President ahaU fcgpe
jg far recovered thatUrea^hTCiQpp